Institute of Public Affairs

The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is a right-wing, corporate funded think tank based in Melbourne. It has close links to the Liberal Party of Australia, with its Executive Director John Roskam having run for Liberal Party preselection for a number of elections. Following the 2007 federal election defeat for the Liberal Party, The Australian's journalist Christian Kerr noted that a new group of federal Liberal politicians were "receiving support from former Howard government staffer John Roskam" at the IPA.

The IPA key policy positions include: advocacy for privatisation and deregulation; attacks on the positions of unions and non-government organisations; support of assimilationist indigenous policy (cf. the Bennelong Society) and refutation of the science involved with environmental issues such as climate change.

History
The IPA is a non-profit company, which has a restricted membership of 54 people. It was established in 1943 by G. J Coles and a group of businessmen based in Melbourne who appointed Charles Kemp as the first director. From the outset, it had close ties to the Liberal Party under its leader Robert Menzies. Australian journalist Paul Kelly argues that the IPA's C.D. Kemp was “probably the principal architect of the original Menzies platform” ("The End of Certainty: The Story of the 1980s", p. 47).

The IPA was not influential again until the 1980s, when C.D. Kemp's son, Rod Kemp took up the leadership. Rod Kemp transformed it from a conservative organisation to a neoliberal one, funded mainly by major corporations groups, and pursuing a pro-free-market, pro-privatization, pro-deregulation and anti-union agenda.

According to Cahill (2004: 210) members of the IPA executive from 1976-1984 included David L. Elsum, Hon Vernon Wilcox, Sir Frank Espie, Douglas Hocking, Sir Wilfred Brookes, James Balderstone, Hugh Morgan, Peter Bunning and Charles Goode.

Throughout the 1980's the IPA's primary focus was on issues such as economic policy, privatisation and industrial relations policy. It also dabbled in a few broader issues such as the role of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the role of churches in public policy debates. It wasn't until 1989 that the IPA began to pay any sustained interest to environmental issues. Since then it has campaigned against the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, promoted the use of genetically engineered crops and defended the logging of native forests.

More recently, the IPA has been the driving force behind the establishment of a number of new non-profit front groups, including the Australian Environment Foundation - which campaigns for weaker environmental laws - Independent Contractors of Australia - which campaigns for an end to workplace safety laws and a general deregulation of the labour market, and the ironically named Owner Drivers Australia, which campaigns against safety and work standard for truck drivers.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, in a speech to the IPA justifying the 2003 Iraq War, commented that "the Institute has played a role in shaping, as well as articulating, our nation’s values."

Right Wing?
IPA Executive Director John Roskam has objected to the group being described as being "right wing". "We are many things – but 'right wing' is not one of them. Any combination of free market, liberal, conservative (on some issues), liberal/conservative, (even) libertarian (on occasion), would be an appropriate description of the IPA – but not right wing. Since when has being in favour of small government, lower taxes, and less government been 'right wing'?," he wrote in a letter to Crikey.

In a letter in response, Niall Clugston described Roskam's argument as "disingenuous". "The left/right spectrum is best understood as denoting relative positions, and the IPA is certainly poles apart from anyone described as left-wing. By the way, a key characteristic of right-wingers is that they shun the label. Perhaps they should explain why that is."

Media impact
Following the publication of a column in 2008 questioning the impact of think tanks such as the IPA, Chris Berg, the editor of the IPA's journal, IPA Review, responded:


 * "Andrew Crook weirdly asserts that the Institute of Public Affairs has been 'effectively frozen out of the national debate' since Kevin Rudd won office. If being frozen out of the national debate is getting more than 200 op-eds published in the national media during the year and having had hundreds and hundreds media mentions and media appearances -- then we're pretty happy with that. We’re not doing too badly for an organisation with a budget of much less than $2 million."

Case Studies

 * The Institute of Public Affairs/IPA targets non-government organisations
 * The IPA's pro-nuclear advocacy

The IPA and climate change
In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, IPA Executive Director John Roskam confirmed the IPA's key role in supporting Australian climate sceptics. '"Of all the serious sceptics in Australia, we have helped and supported just about all of them in their work one way or another," he says, listing some prominent figures on the local circuit. "Ian Plimer - we launched his book - Bob Carter, Jo Nova, William Kininmonth."'

In 2008, the institute facilitated a donation of $350,000 by Dr G. Bryant Macfie, a climate change sceptic, to the University of Queensland for environmental research. The money is to fund three environmental doctoral projects with the IPA suggesting two of the three agreed topics. The Australian, May 7, 2008, Dispute over climate sceptic uni grant. George Bryant Macfie is a top 20 shareholder in Strike Resources Limited.

The IPA and the Murray River
For all their talk of 'transparency' though, the IPA has beem embroiled in controversy over failure to disclose funders of its work. In June 2004 it was revealed that Australia's largest irrgation company, Murray Irrigation Limited, contributed $40,000 to the IPA. The IPA's environment unit director Jennifer Marohasy played a critical role in persuading a government committee to overturn recomendations to increase the volume of water released into the Murray River. 

However, Marohasy did not disclose the donation to the committee. When asked by the Australian Financial Review about the MIL donation, Marohasy would not confirm or deny whether she knew about the donation while writing her report or giving evidence to the committee. She said she did not take "an interest in who funds IPA".

IPA executive director Mike Nahan stated the donation did not affect the organisation's position. While Nahan stated in late 2003 that the names of donors would be revealed, the information is still not disclosed on the organisations website.

In June 2006, Bill Hetherington, Chairman of Murray Irrigation Ltd from 1995 to 2005 - including the period when Murray Irrigation Ltd was a major funder of the IPA - was appointed to the IPA's board of management.

Associated Events

 * The Institute of Public Affairs Eureka Forum

Staff

 * John Roskam - Executive Director
 * Ken Phillips - Director, Workplace Reform Unit
 * Mike Nahan - Senior Fellow
 * Alan Moran - Director, Deregulation Unit
 * Jennifer Marohasy - Director, Environment Unit
 * Jim Hoggett - Senior Fellow
 * John Hyde - Emeritus Fellow
 * Chris Berg - Editor, IPA Review
 * Jason Briant - Research Fellow
 * Louise Staley - Research Fellow
 * Georgina Hamilton - Client Services Manager
 * Tom Switzer, research fellow
 * Tim Wilson - Research Fellow

Former staff

 * Don D'Cruz
 * Andrew McIntyre
 * Des Moore
 * Chris Ulyatt
 * Gary Johns
 * Rod Kemp
 * Dame Leonie Kramer
 * John Stone

IPA Board

 * Mr. Alan Stockdale - until August 1, 2008 Chairman (Former Liberal Treasurer of Victoria)
 * Rod Kemp, after August 1, 2008.
 * Dr. Robert Officer - Treasurer
 * Mr. Harold Clough - (Treasurer of the Lavoisier Group)
 * Mr. William Clough -
 * Dr. Tim Duncan - (former Head of External Affairs, Rio Tinto)
 * Dr. Michael Folie -
 * Mr. william morgan - son of Hugh Morgan of Lavoisier Group, ex Western Mining Corporation
 * Mr. Ian Nethercote - (CEO of Loy Yang Power)
 * Dr. Tom Quirk -
 * Bill Hetherington

Former Board Members

 * Charles Goode
 * Nobby Clark
 * Hugh Morgan
 * Sir James Balderstone
 * David J. Brydon
 * John Calvert Jones
 * J. F. H. Clark
 * John C. Dahlsen
 * Bruce Scott Dyson
 * G. E. Littlewood
 * Professor David Pennington
 * Eda Ritchie
 * Michael B. Robinson
 * John Hyde
 * Michael Robinson - Former IPA Chairman & current Chairman of Tabcorp

Funding
The IPA has heavily relied on funding from a small number of conservative corporations. Those funders disclosed by the IPA to journalists and media organisations include:

In 2003, the Australian Government paid $50,000 to the Institute of Public Affairs to review the accountability of NGOs.
 * Major mining companies - BHP-Billiton and Western Mining Corporation;
 * Pesticides/Genetically modified organisms: Monsanto; and
 * A range of other companies including communications company Telstra, Clough Engineering, Visy, and News Limited;
 * Tobacco companies - Philip Morris (Nahan) and British American Tobacco
 * Oil and gas companies: Caltex, Esso Australia (a subsidiary of Exxon) and Shell [www.ips.org] and Woodside Petroleum; and fifteen major companies in the electricity industry; (Nahan 2)
 * Forestry: Gunns, the largest logging company in Tasmania; (Nahan 3)
 * Murray Irrigation Ltd - a major irrigation company contributed $40,000.

However, financial support for the IPA has diminished over the seven years from 1995-96 when the IA received $1.4 million to just over $669,000 in 2001-2002 (figures unadjusted for inflation).

Even Rio Tinto, the conservative mining company, abandoned the IPA because of its strident advocacy against Aboriginal self-determination. .

Contact information
The Institute of Public Affairs Level 2, 410 Collins Street Melbourne VIC 3000 AUSTRALIA Phone: (03) 96004744 Fax: (03) 9602 4989 Web: http://www.ipa.org.au

Other Sourcewatch Resources

 * The Great Australian Dream Project
 * The Institute of Public Affairs and Telstra
 * Think tanks
 * Think Tanks/Australia